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30 Minutes with
Andy Dunlop of Travis
Andy Dunlop from Travis.
Review Photo by Kay McEntee
by Kristi Kates
Once in a great while, a band surfaces that makes everyone really take
notice. Not just for their place in popular culture, or for that one
chart-topping hit wonder... but for the strength of all their songs, and
for the emotion and skill of their live performances. Glasgow, Scotland's
Travis is one of those bands, growing and blossoming even as they sit
poised to take over American musical consciousness.
We caught up with Travis guitarist Andy Dunlop - he of the alternately
chiming, alternately scorching guitar sounds - on a rainy Midwestern
morning in Cleveland, Ohio. Over our respective cups of coffee, we had a
chance to talk about the tour, Travis' favorite movies, the lure of
America, and the notion of Travis rocking out to AC/DC.
KK: Good morning, Andy - sorry to get you up so early!
AD: Hello, Kristi, no worries - I was already up, actually.
KK: Coffee or tea this morning?
AD: Coffee... always coffee.
KK: I caught one of your recent shows with Oasis - and I've got to say,
your songs really won the crowd over. It was just great! How is life on
the road treating you?
AD: Brilliant, actually, thanks - it's been a long tour, a really long
tour, but it's been just brilliant, really good.
KK: Is there a part of the U.S. that you're looking forward to seeing the
most?
AD: Well, I think all Scottish people have a fascination with the West
Coast, with the sun... I mean, it's sunny there all year, and when you're
used to none of that, to grey skies all the time... it's the sun, I think.
I think my favorite city has to be New York, though - it's like a country
all on its own and reminds me of how London is to England. And we've been
there
a lot, so we've gotten to know people there, and gotten to know the city.
KK: I love New York, too. How do you find it compares - not New York,
necessarily, but the entire U.S., in terms of pop culture, to America?
AD: Both are very different. I think that Brits have always emulated U.S.
music to a degree - the Brits just put a different slant on things.
KK: Where would you like to tour that you haven't been yet?
AD: We've done Japan and all that, but I'd really like to see Australia...
KK: You haven't done Australia yet? I'm surprised!
AD: No! We really hope to go later this year, though, I think - I hope! -
we'll get to go then. I find that once you start travelling a lot, it's a
bit of a challenge - so it's nice to tour in America. The States are
really built for touring, you know - you don't have to think about things
like the language and currency changes, like you do in Europe. You go to
bed one morning, wake up the next, and everything's different.
KK: Yeah - I've always found it fascinating that in Europe, you go from
country to country so quickly, while within the same distance in the U.S.,
you're just going from state to state, without nearly as many cultural
changes.
AD: Exactly - it's nice that those things don't change here.
KK: With all of the travelling, I'm sure you've got a load of music and
books on the tour bus - what are you guys currently listening to?
AD: We've just picked up the David Bowie Storytellers album - we've been
listening to his whole back catalog, actually.
KK: I can see you guys listening to Hunky Dory a lot!
AD: That one, and the rest of them - we've got a LOT of music on the bus!
KK: And books? I know that you, personally, read a lot of Burroughs and
Kurt Vonnegut... ever read any Paul Theroux or Walter Miller?
AD: Yes, always books... I'm always looking for new books to read...
KK: Theroux did "The Mosquito Coast"...
AD: Oh! Right!
KK: You'd probably like Walter Miller, too, if you like Vonnegot - Miller
did "A Canticle for Leibowitz."
AD: Thanks, I'll have to write those down.
KK: So, you guys were out with Oasis, and now you're out with other bands
opening for you (The Waxwings opened Travis' recent show at Detroit's St.
Andrew's Hall) if you could have any band open for you, any band you
wanted, who do you think you'd choose?
AD: Well, when we did Britain, we had Remy Zero open for us, they're an
American band, they're brilliant...
KK: From L.A., I think?
AD: Right! From L.A....they're an amazing band, one of our favorites -
and it's nice when your opening act is so good, they make you say, "Bloody
hell, we've got to go out and do a right good job, then!"
KK: And who would you like to open for?
AD: I think Oasis - we did just do it, but we had such a good laugh with
them, I'm sure we'd do it again.
KK: It was a great idea, putting the two of you on the road together -
such a good mix of sounds!
AD: Absolutely brilliant.
KK: Speaking of a mix of sounds, do you guys have a collective musical
influence as a band, or do you all bring different influences to the mix?
I know you met each other in art school...
AD: Right - all different, really - Fran didn't listen to a lot of music
growing up at all... and Dougie was into classic rock, like Fleetwood Mac
and that... I came from heavy metal, myself.
KK: (laughing) I don't really hear much of that in Travis' music!
AD: No... not really... but I listened to a lot of AC/DC and such.
KK: Perhaps you should cover an AC/DC song live, that would be something!
AD: (laughing) Actually, we do, we sometimes play "Back in Black" at
soundcheck - but I don't think the world's ready for Travis' AC/DC covers
just yet!
KK: But are they ready for your Britney Spears' cover? I haven't heard
you guys do that one yet.
AD: Yeah, we do that one, "Baby One More Time," and right at first, people
are kind of looking at us, like, "what are they doing??" but they catch on
after a bit. You know, when you strip away all of the pop layers of that
song, it's actually a good song, a dark song, even.
KK: So will we see any schoolgirl outfits and pigtails on the members of
Travis in the near future?
AD: (laughing) Uh... no, not that!
KK: (more laughter) Okay, okay... well, I know you guys are headed back
to the studio in the fall, right? Have you chosen a studio yet?
AD: In L.A., I think Ocean Way.
KK: Great facility. And you'll be working with Nigel (Nigel Godrich,
producer of Travis' The Man Who as well as recent releases from Radiohead
and R.E.M.) again? How is he to work with?
AD: Yes, we will be working with Nigel - it was brilliant, he's absolutely
amazing to work with. He's got such a strong set of ears. We lay all of
our tracks down live, and, for any band, it can be infuriating, as you
know, in the studio, when you finish recording, and step behind the mixing
board, and it doesn't sound the same.
KK: I know exactly what you mean.
AD: With any band, there's a dynamic that you get when you work together,
but it's hard to capture because it's one of those... invisible things.
Nigel can capture that for us. And the first thing we need to get a good
collection of sounds is a good set of songs - Fran (Healy, Travis'
singer-songwriter) really does that for us, he's never played us a song we
can say "no" to.
KK: So he's rather particular, then?
AD: Very. He screens the songs on his own before he even shows them to us
- he's rather hard on himself.
KK: And you? I noticed that you use a lot of Gibson guitars...
AD: Yes, I've got an old Les Paul I particularly like. And I also used a
Rickenbacker...
KK: 6-string or 12?
AD: 12... I played it on the new single, "Coming Around."
KK: Rickenbackers do have a gorgeous sound. Are there any sounds you'd
like to experiment with on the next album?
AD: Yes, they do - well, until you're in there, it's hard to say... I have
played a six-string banjo, but (laughing) that's a sound you've got to be
careful with!
KK: Indeed! Any sneak preview song titles you can give me, Andy?
AD: There's "Coming Around," of course - that's the current single in the
U.K.... there's also a new one, "Safe," that we're playing live right now,
and another called "Flowers in the Window."
KK: I like that title.
AD: "Flowers in the Window"?
KK: Yes - very evocative. And now, the question everyone's been asking...
why did you guys name the band Travis?
AD: It's after a Wim Wenders film called Paris, Texas... we named the band
after the main character in that film. All of us grew up listening to the
soundtrack album, and we're all huge, huge movie buffs.
KK: So you must have a lot of movies on the bus, too?
AD: Yes! A lot of comedies, silly things that make us laugh, like Happy
Gilmore... that's a staple... also a lot of Stanley Kubrick films, and
Harold and Maude, with that great Cat Stevens soundtrack. We've got two
drawers full of videos, but the sad thing is that we can't take them back
with us, because the format's not the same.
KK: Perhaps you should buy an American VCR and take that back with you!
AD: Ah! Yes! Or just leave them for the next band!
KK: Speaking of which, I know you guys have a show tonight, so I'll let
you go... I'll be at your show tomorrow night, and I'll look forward to
seeing you then...
AD: That'll be great, thanks!
KK: Thank you for your time, Andy, and best of luck with everything!
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